Diller's IAC Beats Estimates on Growth of Online Search, Dating Businesses
IAC/InterActiveCorp, operator of Match.com and Ask.com, said third-quarter profit fell 19 percent, beating analysts’ estimates on growth in its online dating and search businesses.
Net income at IAC, the Web-based company built and controlled by Barry Diller, dropped to $17.5 million, or 32 cents a share on an adjusted basis, from $21.7 million, or 34 cents, a year earlier, as one-time gains weren’t repeated. The result topped the 27-cent average estimate of 16 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Sales increased 25 percent to $421.7 million, the New York- based company said in a statement. That compares with the $400.1 million analysts had projected.
“It looks like very strong results,” Sandy Mehta, an analyst at Hong Kong-based Value Investment Principals Ltd., said in an interview. “Everyone is gaga over Google. This is really the undervalued stock in the space.”
IAC advanced $1.12, or 4.2 percent, to $27.59 at 4:30 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has gained 35 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Brett Pulley in New York at bpulley@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net
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